Indeed, Lloyd's trademark fusion of garage rock crunch, irresistible power pop hooks and metaphysical soul is apparent from the opening riff of the album's inaugural rocker "Wind in the Rain." That's backed up seamlessly by both "Smoke" and "So Sad," with the quite brilliant "Run" along next.

The thunderous first single from the album, "Whisper" is far from that, as it's Lloyd's version of a garage rock love song which he backs with both "I Can Tell" and then one of my own personal favorites on here, "Just My Heart."

This powerful and honest, troubadour-spinning new album, chock full of energy and pure delight for a profession he still feels attune to, is then rounded out in fine style with the active "Something Remains," the ode to all things "Down The Drain," and then the guitar-heavy, R.E.M-esque, and for the most part heavily instrumental (save for the countdown itself and some space musings) title track itself, "Countdown."

The Countdown is Lloyd's follow-up to 2016's Rosedale and was recorded in Nashville with a quartet, including keyboardist Joe Bidewell from Lloyd's '80s band, getting 11 tracks down in just two days.

"It happened very quickly -- the basics in a couple days, the overdubs in a couple more days," says Lloyd, who for the first time did not engineer the recording himself.

"I did the vocals for the entire record in basically one morning. I look at some of the songs now and I might have added different parts or different sounds if they'd been allowed to marinate more. But in a way it was very cool to do it quickly like that."